Xsl transformation in java

Question

Hi all,
Firstly let me start by saying sorry if this is the wrong place for this question. And if anyone thinks so and can suggest a better forum for my question, please suggest it!
My question is regarding the xsl tag <xsl:for-each> with the select attribute.
This element in xsl is very useful, and also convenient in the way it works. It iterates over a set, selecting the current position in that set, and making it the current context for your xpath. What I mean can be seen below in my small xsl snippet. I am selecting a position, and after that i can
use the current context to output the value of the child node 'name', the element which xpath would otherwise be
/PatientRecord/History/Episode[@current='true']/Partner/name, but since the for-each makes the current position in the set the current context, I can refer to it just by 'name'.
<xsl:for-each select="/PatientRecord/History/Episode[@current='true']/Partner">
     <xsl:if test="name/@label">
               <tr>
                         <td id="pd_col_left"><xsl:value-of select="name/@label"/></td><td id="pd_col_right"><xsl:value-of select="name"/></td>
               </tr>
     </xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
QUESTION
I have wanted to select an XPATH and then use that context to more easily (short form) access all child nodes, EXACTLY AS IN THE SNIPPET ABOVE!
And because I don't know any other way (and haven't found reference to such a method) I have simply been using the <xsl:for-each> tag for this case even though I only want to select one exact position, and do not have or want to iterate over a set+.
I have the feeling I should probably be doing something like an xsl:template match"blah"
But I am just not sure how to ensure the template is called at the correct time in the run of the transformation.
I am not sure, because you are not able to nest these xsl:template tags...... .so....
Just how would it look?
What is the correct way to go about this? ( I am admitedly still getting used to this way of thinking/coding)
Thanks in advance for any help!
svaens

Answer 1

No, you don't want <xsl:apply-template>, you want <xsl:apply-templates>. Look for examples which use that element. It will take you a little bit of practice to get yourself free of the procedural programming style (where you control what order things happen in). The natural style in XSLT is to let the processor control the order things happen in, and to set up templates which match on the right XPath expressions.